Olympic swimming legend Michael Phelps sank a monster 51-yard putt for a net hole-in-one, during the second round of the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship in Scotland.
Phelps, whose normal handicap is 24 but has been readjusted for the event to 16, drove the front edge of the green at the par four, sixth hole or the 15th hole of his round at Kingsbarns before holing his lengthy downhill second shot putt.
The fact Phelps had a stroke on the hole meant signing for a ‘one’ on his scorecard.
“That was the longest putt I’ve ever holed,” he said.
“It was pretty incredible, watching it dive in was a pretty cool feeling. So to be able to have a net hole-in-one was pretty special.
“Even without that, this trip would have been very special, just having the opportunity to come over here and play amongst some of these players has been absolutely incredible.”
Phelps then proceeded to record a net eagle ‘two’ at the next for he and professional partner, Paul Casey to move to nine under par in the team event.
And Phelps and Casey had earlier shared a humorous moment when a dog ran onto their sixth green and stole Casey’s ball as he was lining up an eagle putt.
The brown pooch, named ‘Digby’, ran off with Casey’s ball before it was retrieved by a spectator.
There was no penalty involved and Casey putted out for a birdie on route to a round of 69 to move to three under par.
“To be honest, the dog looked a bit lost, so I went over to make friends with it and it made off with my golf ball,” said Casey laughing.
“I checked his tag and his name was ‘Digby’ but I didn’t get his phone number.”
Thailand’s Thongchai Jaidee and his amateur partner, Hugh Courtney Jrn head the team format on 21-under par.
